We need your help

Our list of those that have worked on the Oak Grove Hotshot crew is far from complete. Below are names, and in some cases, not complete names of fellow crew members we need contact information for. Please take a minute and look at the list and see if you have any information that will help us find these folks. We want to find them and alert them to the reunion on May 23, 2012.

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Greg Ruggles said,

Tom Pogue said,

I was assigned to Oak Grove in Oct. of ’70. For some reason I believe an Indian Crew took over Chilao for the remainder of that season and most of us ended up at Oak Grove. Didn’t see much fire action but spent a lot of time doing work at Switzer Falls and other trail work. Wayne Crowder was my foreman. We made him earn his money! Being as how there was a rivalry between Chilao and OG he didn’t like us and we didn’t like him. He rode us hard and we pranked him every way we could. Looking back on it he was a great guy and I hope he doesn’t hold any grudges, I think all the pranks we pulled were in “good fun”.

Wayne Crowder said,

Hey Tom, I remember you! Was that when we were installing that fence around the top of the falls to keep the idiots from falling off of it? You remember when we hand drilled (I mean drill rod and sledge hammer!) those holes to blast out the rock for the posts? Man, that was some tedious work! I don’t really remember much about the revelry between the crews then, but I do remember what an a- hole I could be. Hope you didn’t take it personally. I also remember backing that Carry All we were using into an oak tree there at the Switzer parking lot. When we got back to Oak Grove, we hurriedly pounded out the dent and repainted it before Boggs saw it. I didn’t want any blemishes on my driving record. And of coarse, no grudges. See you in May!
Wayne

The Oak Grove Hotshot crew was formed in 1950, making it the first Hotshot crew on the Angeles National Forest, and the second Hotshot crew formed by the Forest Service.
Meaning of "hot shot"
The original meaning of "hot-shot" was when it appeared in the early 17th. Century as "one who shoots recklessly" (essentially a "hothead fellow"),
"Big Shot" meaning a very important person, originally came from large caliber weapons (initially in the form "big gun") in the early 19th. century.
"Hot Shots" were iron shot heated red-hot in a furnace and fired into the side of a wooded ship.
The first time we see Hot Shot used in Wildland Firefighting history, it was used for a two or more person crew that fought fire with hand tools.
Today, the term Hotshot is used to refer to pilots, stock brokers and more, but in wildland firefighting, the term is used to identify an elite group of people.
If you were a member or know a member of the crew, please contact us with name, year on the crew, position, and contact information. Continue to monitor this blog for updates.
Email info. to: oghotshot@comcast.net
If you have any photos of the crew or information that you would like to include into the blog, mail to the above email address and we will include it in the blog photo/ history.